Measuring online volitional response control with a continuous tracking task

Abstract

We present a new tracking task designed to measure elements of response control in particular types of response adjustments such as stopping. In this task, participants track a visual target by manually pressing on a force sensor to yield a trace of force over time. Hardware specifications are detailed, as is an algorithm for determining the latencies of response adjustments such as stopping. We illustrate the use of the task in two experiments. Experiment 1 explores the reliability of data produced by the task. Experiment 2 examines some of the issues that can be addressed using the new task. These results demonstrate the usefulness and potential of the task for gauging response control within the context of the stopping literature.